In e-commerce orders for goods can be placed with an electronic market place (“e-market place”) who might sell goods through the Internet from many manufacturers. As understood by the present invention, each manufacturer might have its own title and pricing policy. Some manufacturers, for instance, might desire that the e-market place actually take interim title to the goods, while other manufacturers might desire title to pass directly from the manufacturer to the buyer. As further understood herein, a variable that flows from the manufacturer's title passing preferences is that of pricing, i.e., whether the manufacturer determines the final price, or the e-market place. Moreover, the present invention recognizes that in establishing a price for a customer, it might be desirable to vary or discount the price on the basis of a great many factors, including location of the buyer, identity of the buyer, order volume, and so on. Often, these factors are not static, so the e-market place must constantly update its pricing mechanism.
With the above discussion in mind, the present invention makes the critical observation that an e-market place which sells products from perhaps hundreds of manufacturers while taking into account various and ever-changing pricing permutations and combinations must have a convenient and reliable mechanism to determine price, preferably at the time an electronic order is placed. The present invention, in making the above observation, presents the solution disclosed herein.